April is National Poetry Month. As a poet, I’m required to have this knowledge and not just wait around for someone to post about it on Facebook…. and then look it up on Snopes to see if it’s actually true.
: )

If you have a child, then you may know about all the poetry that happens in April. Even schools who don’t normally have poetry in their classes will seize the day (so to speak) and break out the Shel Silverstein, Dorothy Parker or may snag a local poet to come perform for the kids. I’m one of those fortunate local poets.

i didn’t know when Shel passed away. it seems everyone who knew me was so concerned about what my reaction would be, that no one wanted to bear that responsibility. i didn’t have cable television in may of 1999 & i rarely read the newspaper, so i spent about two weeks in blissful oblivion.

via www.PoetryFoundation.org

i was watching a movie with my best friend & my new boyfriend when my mom called me. she told me she had saved an article which had run in the Chicago Tribune about Shel. excitedly i asked her if he had a new book coming out or if he’d be making an appearance….my one great wish had always been to meet my literary idol. when she told me that he had passed away i was so obviously devastated that my new boyfriend thought i must have been crying over the demise of my father. “No,” my best friend told him “she’s just found out that Shel Silverstein died.” read more →